Principle #7 of Toyota Way

“You should clean everything so that you can see the problems. He always complaint about not being able to observe and detect potential problems.

The principle #7 from the Toyota Way states the following:

“Use visual controls so that no problems are hidden”.

Visual controls should be designed to communicate information to people, indicating whether a condition is acceptable or not acceptable.

It is a business management technique used in places where information is communicated by using visual signals instead of written instructions. The design of the communication is aimed to allow a fast recognition of the information to increase the efficiency and response time.

The objective of these methods is to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of a process by making the steps in that process more visible. The psychological effect of visual control lays on that if something is visible, it is, therefore, easy to remember.

There are different methods used to apply visual control in the workplace. It can be implemented in both manufacturing or services processes, so it not not only applied on factories. As an example, some companies use these techniques to make clear the manufacturing flow, marking where the raw materials, semi-finished products, finished products, bins or machines have to be placed or marking where the scrap and good products have to be held. Technical departments such as maintenance often use visual controls due to the high number of references they have to work with and the high value and cost of maintaining inventories.

Visual signs communicate information that is needed to make effective decisions. These decisions may be oriented to safety or can give reminders like what steps should be taken to solve a problem. Whether it is named as “visual control” or not, the true fact is that replacing text with graphics makes information easier to understand, making it a more efficient way of communicating a message.

The aim of the visual controls is to make the management of a process the simpler the better. This involves giving the exact situation of the KPI (Key Process Indicators) visible to everyone so that in a glance, employees know whether the results are positive or not. They are meant to display the operating status of an operation in an easy-to-see format and provide the consequent instruction. A visual control system must have an action component associated in case the procedures are not followed within the production process. Thus, visual controls must also have a component where feedback is provided to employees.

Let us talk about the most known and common technique implemented nowadays:

5S methodology

Its name comes from the 5 Japanese words that start with S: seiri,seiton,seiso,seiketsu, and shitsuke.

Some organizations call this methodology as 6S, where the sixth element is safety. 5S is frequently viewed known as visual control, visual workplace or visual factory. There is not consensus about the origin of the 5S technique as some say it come from Henry Ford (using CANDO –> Cleaning uo, Arranging, Neatness, Discipline and Ongoing Improvement), others say it was Hirano or Osada.